[xandos]

I just obtained an MJKZZ motorized stacking rail. I am planning to make some images for which I'll use 2-5x magnification. The problem I've run into is that my K-1 and K-5 don't get triggered by the signal from the rail via the cable release port. The screen goes black for a second but the shutter does nothing. I'm assuming this is due to some camera settings, but I've tried everything I can think of and cannot get the camera to fire. Does anyone here have any experience with what settings I should change in order to get the camera to fire off the cable release for focus stacking?

[Thagomizer]

Took the Amscope microscope objective (see post #525) out for a test in the great outdoors. I mounted it on a basic M42 bellows. Akward, but still more or less manageable. Propping the rig on convenient surfaces helped a lot. Single shot images are sharpened a bit but not cropped. Field of view is a bit less than 6mm.

A sleepy ladybug:




Rose detail:




Tiny flowers:

[Thagomizer]

Reversed Kinotel 1 1/2" cine lens reversed with extension on KP.

An ant that stopped long enough for me to get some shots.





100% of the second shot.



A tiny inchwormish critter:



A daddy longlegs (which is what we called these when I was a kid, but which is also the name of a spider sometimes called a cellar spider) or harvestman (a name I learned much later) that was shy a leg or two of a full set:



Tiny plant bits:

[xandos]

Very nice thagomizer, your pictures just keep getting better and better.

Regarding my question from a while ago, Peter from MJKZZ helped me out with it, things are all great now! Now I just need to find a subject I can actually show here

[Thagomizer]

Very nice thagomizer, your pictures just keep getting better and better.

Regarding my question from a while ago, Peter from MJKZZ helped me out with it, things are all great now! Now I just need to find a subject I can actually show here

Thank you! I keep adding tools to my macro toolbox, so I've got a lot of flexibility in choosing how to make small things big. Sometimes it makes it hard to decide which bits to take with me on a given day!

Glad you got things straightened out for your stack shooting. I'm afraid my computer would choke to death if I started throwing stacks at it, so for the time being I'm sticking to getting what I can with single shots, with stacking as a future option!

[Weevil]

Simili-macro shot with Pentax K3II & DA*300ƒ/4
(X-posted in the 300mm thread)

Amanite tue-mouche / Fly Agaric [Amanita muscaria]
by Weevil, on Flickr

[Thagomizer]

Working with my Sigma 10-20 with a Jessop's 13mmextension tube with A contacts. Not a combination for pixel peeping! I'm wondering if my 16-85 might give better results?

Unsurprisingly, I get better results in controlled situations indoors...



...than handheld shooting outdoors.







Zoom is set for 20mm or just a little less. Any shorter and the point of focus is located within the lens itself. (This is a great way to discover just how much dust there is on the interior elements of your lens!) Front element is almost touching the subject; not all subjects tolerate this.

Cross posted with "Sigma 10-20 Club."

[Thagomizer]

I was out one morning without any macro gear when I came across a busy insect intersection. I shot anyway. DA 35 f2.8 on KP at minimum focus, with a bit of cropping.

This one's got a drop of water on/in its mouth:










...and at 100%.




I haven't used the Plastic Fantastic that much and hadn't expected this sort of result from it. Guessing (correctly!) that maybe some of them would spend the night on this plant, I went back the next day even earlier in the morning (when they'd be colder, slower and easier to shoot) with the 35mm and my Vivitar 2X Macro Focusing Teleconverter. I wasn't quite as bowled over by what I got out of this combination, but that might have been more on me than the gear. Still, I'm glad I tried it. I might try the 35 with some extension just to see what it does...

Here are some 35+TC shots:















Cross posted with "Show me your insects" and "Plastic Fantastic" threads.

[Thagomizer]

Decided to skip the extension tube trial and opted for some macro shots with the DA 35/2.4 in reversed position. To give me some aperture control, I used a Fotodiox adapter originally intended for mounting Pentax lenses on Nikon bodies. Removing the supplied optics meant for infinity focus in its primary role, I end up with a fairly thin ring that lets me change the aperture on my reversed lens despite its lack of aperture ring. It doesn't eat up a lot of working room; I can still get light onto my subjects from the onboard flash with my trusty Pringles tin extender/diffuser. Horizontal field of view is about 17mm, so this is 1.43X magnification.

Here's that Fotodiox adapter:




Results? I'm quite pleased. Can't say I've ever had such a good look at the neck muscles of the insects I shoot!




And at 100%:






100%:









100% again:




I'll have to try it on my K-S2, as its focus peaking is a bit more user friendly than that of the PK: it doesn't wink off when you apply any pressure to the shutter release button, but stays on through the exposure process.

Cross posted with "Plastic Fantastic" and "Show me your insects" threads.

[Thagomizer]

More hand held Amscope objective shots:



100% crop:

[Thagomizer]

(Cross posted with the Q forum)

Having reversed SLR lenses (prime and zoom), and movie camera lenses for macro shooting, I wondered about the Q 03 fish-eye, reversed, figuring that its short focal length would produce even higher magnification than nanything I'd yet tried reversing. So, I got a hold of one. I attached it to my KP using a 49mm reverse adapter, a 37-49mm step up ring, and some masking tape around the front barrel of the lens to keep it snug in the step up ring. No extension is necessary to get the image circle to fill the APS-C frame. I don't know what would happen with full frame, though.

The combination isn't going to win any beauty contests...



It works, but it's very tricky. DOF is minimal. Working distance is very small, 9.2mm, the registration distance of the Q. For these test shots I used existing light, live view and self-timer. Getting flash illumination on the subject will be tricky. It's unlikely I would use this in my usual hand-held field shooting style. This set up is going to need a tripod.





Some results.

Horizontal field of view is less than 2mm. Here are a pair of millimeter marks on a ruler:




The knurled focus ring of the 8mm cine lens seen in the shots above:



Printing from a step-up ring box. The box was not quite squiare on; the left hand side of the image is sharper than the right.



and the price tag on it.



Here's a shot of the box with a ruler. The black and orange pattern in the shot above is just to the left of the price tag.



I'll have to try this out on more interesting subjects. I'll post results when I do!

I also want to try the 03 fish-eye as part of a wide angle macro relay system. These rigs tend to use small M12 "board" lenses (usually with larger maximum apertures than the 03 has), intended for smaller sensor CCTV or GoPro style cameras and the like. Watch this space for developments...

[Thagomizer]

More results from the reversed Q 03 fish-eye on my KP. I'm posting this on all three threads where I've been talking about this; "Reversed 03 fish-eye on KP", "Pentax Q mount macro reverse rings", and "Macro by any means necessary club."

Camera is tripod mounted on a focus rail. Electronic shutter with 12 second self timer for shooting, existing light using a diffused Ikea Jansjo light.

First some more "indutrial" targets. Printed number on a lens barrel:




Printing on a business card:





The edges of some small manilla envelopes:




Still industrial, but not mechanical. Multigrain bread...



and the surface of one of the seeds on the top of the bread.



Some closeup bug bits.

Our first subject, an unfortunate shield bug (?), which I found dead in a corner of the bedroom, under some stuff.

Here's the whole insect:



And a close-up of its eye:



Our second contestant is a cast-off cicada husk:



Some of its bits. The business end of one of its digging claws:



And spines at the (wrist? elbow??) joint of the same limb:



An adult cicada (found deceased).



A close-up of one of its eyes:



Because of the very limited depth of field, reversing the Q 03 fish-eye might best be used with flat subjects. More three dimensional subjects move out of the limited plane of focus very quickly in either direction; image quality is such that it might not be worth the trouble of stacking, though I'll let those who actually do focus stacking (of which I am not, as yet, one) decide this for themselves. I don't think this optic is a hidden gem that's going to take the photomacrography world by storm. That said, it is fun to play with and makes for a comparatively compact rig for high magnification shooting. If I'm feeling particularly optimistic (or masochistic) I might even try it in the field once weather is warmer.

[baro-nite]

I don't think this optic is a hidden gem that's going to take the photomacrography world by storm.

I think you're understating the performance you've uncovered here. Apparently you're getting well over 10:1, maybe 14:1, reproduction ratio, and it looks like diffraction and chromatic aberration are not bad at all. Edge and corner performance look pretty good too. Certainly worth more experiments.

[Thagomizer]

I think you're understating the performance you've uncovered here. Apparently you're getting well over 10:1, maybe 14:1, reproduction ratio, and it looks like diffraction and chromatic aberration are not bad at all. Edge and corner performance look pretty good too. Certainly worth more experiments.

Well that's good to know. I'm no optical expert; I'd rather understate than oversell. I'm happy to bring attention to the lens, and if it works better for stacking or other applications than I'm giving it credit for, so much the better (and shame on me!). I did notice the lack of CA, but I thought the sharpness wasn't quite there, and I thought that it could be diffraction rearing its ugly head. The thin depth of field might make whatever sharpness there is less obvious amidst the softness in front of and beyond the plane that is in focus. I certainly would be curious to see how it would work as a tool in a focus stacking rig. Unfortunately I don't have any stacking software, and my computer would probably choke to death on the throughput of data that would require.

I still have yet to try the 03 as the front element of a wide angle macro relay lens. I've got a selection of wide angle primes and zooms to use as the relay optic that, along with the right extension, will (with any luck) throw an image that gives APS-C coverage. I'm hoping that the 03 will offer better image quality than the cheap M12 board lenses I've seen used very effectively by others. We'll see what happens...

[swanlefitte]

I feel like with macro I can use higher f stops even though the effective fstop is even higher still.
I wonder if this is because instead of gathering from a large area onto a small plane one is gathering light from basically a point on to a relatively large plane. Expanding instead of condensing light.